Dante (DmC)

Dante is the protagonist of the new contemporary game in the series. He is a demon-angel hybrid known as a Nephilim, who lives as a demon hunting vigilante. He is counted by the officials of his hometown of Limbo City as a member of an organization of "terrorists," and is being pursued by both national and worldwide authorities. Dante himself is a young and rebellious social outcast. He lives and fights in Limbo City, where demons seemingly influence every aspect of the world and the social condition of the humans living there.

Description
Dante stands at around six feet and with a more rounded face and wider jaw than he was in the TGS 2010 trailer, as the the character model was updated to resemble the actor portraying him, Tim Phillipps, and his eye color seems to be grey-blue. His hair is black, with the sides of his head shaved, forming a mohawk out of the hair at the top of his head, tapering off into a point at the nape of his neck. As the game progresses, the hair at the back of his head can be seen changing permanently white. He also sports a strange glowing tattoo on his back between his shoulder blades. In one trailer, this tattoo glows briefly and heals scars he has on his back, and during gameplay it can be seen through his coat as he switches to an angelic or demonic weapon, which is also accompanied by a blue or red color.

His attire consists of a black 3/4 length leather hooded jacket with red interior linings and the British Union flag sewn on the left arm, a gray tanktop, black fingerless gloves, black faded jeans, black military boots, and a necklace reminiscent of half of the Perfect Amulet that features prominently throughout the series. His sword is slung over his back favoring his left hand, and his pistols are placed in holsters at the back of his waist, under his coat. Dante also seems to be ambidextrous, favoring either hand for melee attacks with his weapons.

When Dante uses Devil Trigger, his hair is flushed completely white, his coat becomes bright red, his eyes become red with white irises and small vein-like cracks run across his skin. These effects fade when Devil Trigger deactivates.

Personality
The new Dante's personality is similar to the original Dante's, but because of the change in setting and his past, there are a few pronounced differences in some of the ways Dante interacts with others, especially demons. Otherwise, the young man carries himself in the same slick, confident manner as his counterpart.

Dante is very anti-social, rebellious and laid back. Living on the periphery of society and caught between two worlds, he feels like an outcast. Young and angry, but with a quick wit and black humor, he is disaffected and disassociated with society, and quite apathetic. He has no fear, and no respect for authority, particularly not the demonic authority that runs the world in which he lives. He has no qualms with engaging in debauchery and other hedonistic acts, mostly because he believes he won't be around for too much longer, because of all the demons constantly breathing down his neck.

In early trailers, Dante has a smoking habit and a possible sadistic streak, as he is shown putting out his cigarette on a demon's face. However, it has been confirmed that Dante no longer smokes. In more recent trailers, he displays a more caring side to his female associate, Kat, telling her to leave him and find safety when they come under attack, and even risking The Order's plans to save her life.

Story
Dante is the child of an angel named Eva and the demon Sparda, and seemingly hunts down other demons in the twisted shadows of Limbo City, while slowly coming to grips with his ethereal powers. Dante grew up in various institutions, orphanages, youth correction facilities, and foster homes, but these were mostly operated by demons, and often resulted in torture and violence. Dante has therefore developed a deep hatred of demons and authority in general, but tries to stay incognito.

In spite of this he attracts attention thanks to his violent tendencies and the actions of the demons against him. Dante is not subtle in his war against them, even going so far as punching out a bouncer in front of a group of people in order to enter a night club run by demons. The demons are even less subtle when fighting Dante, perfectly willing to tear apart Limbo City to subdue him. These mutual acts of sabotage have allowed the demons to use the media to portray Dante as public enemy number one.

He is later contacted by Vergil to join The Order alongside him under the guise of seeking vengeance on the demons who caused their family to fall apart.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

 * Dante is going to appear in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. His "rival" character appears to be Heavenly Sword's Nariko.

Weapons
Dante once again wields Rebellion, but this time the sword can morph into different types of other weapons. The known forms Dante has used include a broadsword, an angelic scythe named Osiris, a spine/claw-like grappling hook, and demonic weapons like a battleaxe named the Arbiter, and the Eryx gauntlets. It has been confirmed that Dante will acquire additional weapons, each with different forms as well.

He also has his trusty Ebony &amp; Ivory, a pair of semi-automatic pistols; one silver, Ivory, and one black, Ebony, with curved grips, and engraved actions resembling the Desert Eagle's, the possible basis for the weapons. Dante will also once again wield the franchise staple shotgun. The design philosophy behind both Rebellion and Ebony & Ivory is to create the impression that they were crafted a long, long time ago, and since their creation, they have sent innumerable demons to their doom.

Powers and abilities
Thanks to his supernatural lineage, Dante enjoys a myriad of supernatural abilities of both angelic and demonic nature.

Dante's strong demonic blood grants him brute superhuman strength with which he can wield his broadsword one-handed with ease, overpower demons and even put them into strangleholds. He can shatter solid concrete with his bare hands, and use his sword-whip to latch onto and toss a car across a short distance.

Dante's tattoo resembles his sword stuck in a ring and flanked by open wings. While its purpose and origin are unknown, this tattoo may be the source of his healing powers but the extent of these abilities are unknown.

Dante is faster than humans and can cover long distances in a short time.

Using his angelic powers, he is able to leap at great heights from a building with ease and dodge demons' attacks with diving rolls, even sliding gracefully through air. He can shoot his pistols in different directions simultaneously a la Twosome Time, make powerful shots ricochet off countless enemies, and even fire them at machine gun-like speeds.

He possesses amazing stamina and can be physically active without easily exhausting, allowing him to run, jump, and fight without tire.

He can also activate the Devil Trigger, an alternate form which dies his hair white and his coat red. In this state the world seems to enter a Quicksilver-like state where he can assail enemies as they float helplessly in the air.

Like other games of the series, Dante can slide across the ground to slash distant enemies, launch enemies into the air, following them upwards to continue aerial sword attacks, or stay grounded and juggle them from below with his pistols, and even unleash a hail of gunfire below him while spinning upside-down in midair, and also rising upwards. With Arbiter, he can produce a large shockwave that blasts enemies into the air. Thanks to the new spine-like whip form his sword can take, Dante can also perform Devil Bringer-like abilities to grapple enemies.

Trivia

 * While Dante is the hybrid of an angel and demon, a Nephilim was traditionally the offspring of an Angel father and a human mother.
 * This runs counter to the Dante of the previous series, who was a Cambion; the son of a demon and a human.
 * DmC_VJ_Pose.png Dante performs his Richoshot, his pose closely resembles one that both the classic Dante and Viewtiful Joe use in the Devil May Cry artwork and the Viewtiful Joe series, albeit less exaggerated.
 * The Union Jack patch on the arm of Dante's coat was Ninja Theory's small way of adding in a nod to themselves as their offices are based in the UK.
 * Even though his broadsword's handle rests behind his left shoulder, Dante still uses the weapon with his right hand, usually reaching up and over his head to grab the sword.
 * In Dante's trailer, there is a Combichrist tour poster. Combichrist wrote original music for DmC, and their song "Never Surrender" has been featured in demo footage and in the Captivate trailer.
 * The new Dante has recieved several names from the fan community to differentiate him from the original Dante. These include "DmC Dante" and "New Dante". He has also been called "Dino", which is an acronym meaning "Dante In Name Only", and had his name spelled as "Donte" typically given by fans who disapprove of the treatment of the character.
 * Many people initially (and some still do) claimed that Dante's appearance in the TGS 2010 announcement trailer was based on creative director Tameem Antoniades inserting himself into the game out of some form of narcissism, but Tameem himself denied this as he stated in an interview; "What can I say? He's a decade and a half younger than me, way better looking... The only thing he's got is black hair. And he's male. I didn't design the character. I didn't go to our designers and say, "I think it's a really good idea if we make the new Dante look like me, because I want to be in the game." They'd laugh at me. They'd throw me out the window."
 * Part of this comparison can be drawn from the fact that Tameem has changed his hairstyle in keeping with the character of the new Dante when showing the game, which has further increased their parallels. However, mohawks like Dante's are a common hairstyle, and were a key component to the 70s and 80s punk rock rebellion that the new Dante was themed after.